North Park, return to the countryside.

"Brother Rui, why are you here!" Li Zhao looked at Li Rui who was dressed in a short outfit with wide eyes, and then immediately covered his mouth with his hands.

"Don't cover it, I've seen it." Li Rui smiled and touched Li Zhao's head, "Grandma has something to do this morning, so she asked me to come and watch you grow vegetables and catch ducks." ”

Li Zhao put down his hand and nodded.

Li Rui looked at the homecoming farmhouse that he hadn't come for a long time, and showed a nostalgic smile.

Yo, isn't this the gray duck whose tail was caught bald by Ming'er? Is it still alive? That's a good job!

Tsk, have you switched to garlic seedlings now? Back then, there were only cabbage and turnips here.

"Forget it, grandma isn't here today anyway, I'll collect your dishes today, and I'll catch the ducks." Li Rui rolled up his sleeves and prepared to do it himself.

"Great! Cousin Rui, you're so nice! Li Zhao cheered and ran to the side and watched Li Rui get off the ground.

Li Rui's movements are very skillful, pinch the leaves when it is time to pinch the leaves, take the stems when it is time to take the stems, loosen the soil in some places, apply fertilizer in some places, and occasionally catch it and trample it to death when he sees a few insects, Li Zhao who saw it exclaimed.

My cousin moves so fast! My cousin will also fertilize! My cousin is catching bugs! My cousin is amazing!

My cousin is here!

Li Zhao stupidly opened his mouth wide and looked at Li Rui who handed him the basket, and then tilted his head stupidly to look at him with a wicked smile on the corner of his mouth, and walked towards the duck house with brisk steps.

The ducks that had returned to the countryside seemed to sense the danger they had not seen for a long time, and they quacked and fled in all directions.

Li Rui stared at the bald duck and laughed.

"You've lived under my master for two years, it's time to try duck soup!"

Li Zhao watched in amazement as Li Rui and the old duck battled with each other, and the duck was very surprised that before Li Rui walked to its side, it had already hidden in various places that Li Rui couldn't reach.

Li Rui used his hand to dig it, and it used its mouth to talk to him desperately. Li Rui kicked with his foot, and it curled up into a small ball so that Li Rui couldn't reach himself hidden everywhere.

Li Rui played with it for a while, and then pointed at the duck and scolded:

"Slippery ghost, this time the master will let you go, you wiped your ass clean, wait for the master to catch it next time!"

"Gah! Quack quack! ”

Li Zhao looked at Li Rui and the duck with a dull expression, and talked for a long time, holding the small basket and walking out in a trance.

My grandmother's ducks are all sperm, so how can I call him a child.

This is a pastoral residence, so let's leave it to powerful people like Rui Table and Cousin Ming.

"Where are you going...... Li Rui grabbed Li Zhao's collar, "Here, you can send this duck to the kitchen by the way." ”

Li Rui released the bald-tailed duck and caught a smaller one instead. He grabbed the duck's wings and asked Li Zhao to get them.

"I'm not going to do it...... Every time, I waited for Mama Jiang to help me tie up the ducks before taking them to the kitchen! Li Zhao kept his upper body away from the duck and waved his hand again and again.

"You can, Ming'er and I both came over like this back then. You carry the basket on your shoulder like this......" Li Rui pushed the basket inside, put it on Li Zhao's shoulder, folded the duck's wings again, and handed it to Li Zhao in reverse, "Hold the wings, be careful not to put your head on yourself......"

"Ahh

Well, he said it was late.

After another moment, Li Zhao, who put the vegetables back in the basket from the ground, took the duck that Li Rui caught again, and carefully stretched out his arms and walked forward.

"You don't have to be so nervous, although the duck's neck is flexible, it won't look back." Li Rui chuckled and looked at Li Zhao as if he was facing a great enemy, "Why did you ask your grandmother to send you over to grow vegetables?" ”

"My grandmother said that if you bargain for shredded meat and private individuals, you have to do some farming." Li Zhao repeated Gu Qing's words, "If I want to become a talent, I must first learn to grow vegetables, otherwise even if I become an official, I will be a stupid official." ”

"What do you mean by 'the heavens will descend on the people'?" Li Rui glanced at Li Zhao suspiciously.

"Well, it seems like this."

Don't say it, Li Zhao looks like a typical Li family, in other words, he looks like a child from a peasant family in the countryside, and now he is carrying a vegetable basket and a duck in his hand, which is quite a bit like a native relative in the countryside going to Beijing to give gifts.

Li Rui was amused by his association, but this idea was really not very polite, so he couldn't help laughing and nodded in affirmation: "Grandma is right, if you don't know the suffering of the people, even if you become an official in the future, you will be a stupid official." ”

"Is it so hard for ordinary people? It takes so long to receive the dish? Some words have been held in Li Zhao's stomach for a long time, but Gu Qing is an elder, so it is not easy for him to ask her.

"It's only going to be harder for the countrymen. What you are planting now is vegetables, if they want to farm, they have to reclaim the land and sow seeds at the beginning, they are not like our family, you are a young master, the subordinates have prepared water and fertilizer for you, and the people who farm have to go far away to fetch water by themselves, and they have to make their own fertilizer, and endure the stench and carry it to the field. Li Rui told Li Zhao the part of his knowledge of the Tao.

"When the autumn harvest comes, they take a sickle and harvest all the grain in the field, and then make the grain of rice or wheat into grain that can be sold. It's all very hard, but even if everything is done hard, there is not always a good harvest, because if there is a disaster year, the harvest will fail. Still can't get any money. ”

"That's why poor families have always wanted their children to go to school, because only by studying can they not have to farm. It's not that farming is bad, now the saints are wise, and the taxes that farmers have to pay are very low, but even so, they still have to pay a lot under the layers of exploitation. If someone in the family has achieved fame, they can be eligible for a reduction or exemption from the field tax, and even if they are farming, it is easier than others. ”

Li Rui looked at Li Zhao who was listening with emotion, "If you can be an official, it would be even better." The family's livelihood is guaranteed, and they are not afraid that others will come to oppress them. ”

"I see. I thought everyone was an official to make money. Li Zhao suddenly realized.

"Of course, there are also to make money. But most people just don't want to be oppressed. Li Rui remembered Wang Youzi in Xicheng, he just couldn't survive at home, so he was sold to the family of a wicked official, and after being tortured, he tried to become a small official, so that he could live a little like a person.

"Children like us are just reincarnated. If we are given a different environment, we may not be able to get ahead. Li Rui sent Li Zhao to the kitchen door, "Your brother has a hard time, and it took more than ten years of hard study to get a seven-grade petty official." This is because he was born in the Li family and has the convenience of worry-free food and clothing. Think about how difficult it must be for those children from poor families to farm and study at the same time? These people can get fame, then they are called talented. ”

Li Zhao listened to Li Rui's words, and suddenly became unconfident in himself.

“…… When I was at home, I only finished 'elementary school', and I knew a few words, but I didn't know anything else. ”

"I'm not afraid of your jokes, when I was as old as you, I didn't even finish elementary school. The song "Morning Glory" was read by me full of typos, and even the girl laughed at it. Li Rui remembered himself who was stupid and stupid and fat like a pig back then, "Later, I followed my grandmother to learn to read and write, and I was taught by my husband, so I studied diligently and caught up." ”

"I don't really think that studying is necessarily for the sake of being an official. Reading can make people reasonable, understand a lot of knowledge in the world, and gain the experience of predecessors, which is the benefit of reading. You're still young, and you may not understand what I'm talking about, but when you're older, maybe you'll understand. ”

Li Zhao listened to Li Rui's words, and asked with golden eyes: "Then I am reasonable in reading, can I go to the palace to be a companion reader?" ”

"Not right now." Li Rui bluntly interrupted Li Zhao's dream. "I was able to enter the palace not because I was well educated, but because I was the eldest grandson of the Xinguo Mansion. However, if you can enter the Hanlin Academy and become a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, or if you can study well and become a scholar of the Chinese Academy, you can also go to the palace to be a lecturer. ”

"Wow!" Li Zhao imagined the bright prospect of walking around in the golden palace, "I seem to have entered the palace, I often hear people say that even the bricks on the ground in the palace are gold bricks." ”

"The bricks on the floor of the palace are indeed 'gold bricks', but they are actually a kind of mud bricks, which take three years to forge and complete, so they are called 'gold bricks', which are not actually made of gold." Li Rui listened to Li Zhao's words and laughed dumbly.

"Then I heard that the emperor sleeps with his bride in his arms every night......"

"Uh...... I don't know what to say about this. There are no concubines in the East Palace where Li Rui lives, "You are so interested in the palace, in fact, there is a way to enter the palace, and you can become an official immediately......"

"Oh? And such a good thing? Cousin, say it quickly! Li Zhao didn't even care about whether the duck would talk to him, and stared at Li Rui with bright eyes.

"As soon as you enter the palace, you can become an official, so you are naturally a eunuch......"

“…… Cousin, you're really bad. ”

"Awards, awards."

Li Rui sent his cousin to the kitchen and watched him give the cook vegetables such as duck and greens, and then happily returned with him.

Li Rui found that this child's nature is not bad, but he is a little unaware of the sky and the earth, and some are out of place. But after all, he didn't grow up in a place with a strict hierarchy or a treacherous living environment, and these shortcomings are not a big deal.

Li Rui took Li Zhao to Zhiyun Courtyard to recover his life, and by the way, he washed up and changed his clothes. The girl who had already prepared her clothes saw them enter the courtyard and hurriedly waited for them to rest.

When they entered the outhouse, Gu Qing was counting the items sent by Li Mao in the past few days. She dialed the abacus beads, ticked them one by one, and muttered in her mouth: "Four hundred and five plus fifty-six, adding thirty-two, deducting seventy-two for carriages and horses, is equal to ...... Hey, you're back? How is it so fast today? ”

Gu Qing lowered his head and patted his abacus in annoyance.

"Where did you just go? I should have finished settling this account before I spoke to you! ”

"Grandmother Tang just said that four hundred and five plus fifty-six, plus thirty-two, minus seventy-two for carriages and horses, equals four hundred and sixty-six." Li Zhao suddenly interjected.

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

Li Rui and Gu Qing both looked at Li Zhao when they heard this, and let out a cry of surprise.

Gu Qing found the place he had just calculated, and used the abacus to add and subtract it, and what he got was indeed four hundred and sixty-six.

"You're so fast! How do you figure it out? ”

"That's how it was calculated." Li Zhao said inexplicably.

"How?"

"The minus seventy-two plus thirty-two of the input is equal to the minus of forty, and the gain of fifty-six and the subtraction of forty is equal to the sixteen. So it's four hundred and five plus sixteen, which is equal to four hundred and sixty-six......"

Gu Qing felt dizzy when he listened to his algorithm, and Li Rui was similar, but Li Zhao had an expression of "Do you still want to ask me such a simple question, how easy it is to calculate", which suddenly made the old and the young feel ashamed.

This is just a kid who just got the whole word!

Gu Qing stood up with interest, leaned over to Li Zhao and asked him, "What is one hundred and two hundred plus two hundred and seven minus fifty-five?" ”

"Three hundred and thirty-five." Li Zhao just tilted his head slightly and thought about it, and soon came up with an answer.

"You're amazing!" Gu Qing dialed the abacus, but before he could come up with an answer, Li Zhao had already calculated it. "Did you settle accounts a lot?"

"No, it's all my mother's calculations at home, and I'm just listening to it." Li Zhao shook his head, "My mother said that these are small paths, and there will be a bookkeeper who will do this in the future, telling me to study hard." But I struggled to read, but I was quick to count. ”

Gu Qing looked at Li Zhao with his mouth open, as if he had seen some treasure.

This is a good seedling of a mathematician! Partial subjects are serious in mathematics and strong in mental arithmetic, but the endorsement is not able to memorize or anything, why does this sound so familiar?

"Li Zhao ......" Gu Qing couldn't hide her excited expression and stared at Li Zhao affectionately, Li Rui was jealous when she saw it, "In the future, my grandmother will settle accounts, please be sure to follow my grandmother!" ”

"Huh?"

"Where is this trail! That's your amazing talent! What is artificially trying to make up for the shortcomings, you should play the long one longer! Gu Qing blinked his eyes, and couldn't hide the excitement in his heart and said, "Your cousin and grandmother are digital scumbags, but we know a lot of theoretical things." Come on, I'll teach you a mantra first, called the Ninety-Nine Multiplication Table......"

"Huh?"

"When you're done memorizing, I'll teach you how to 'algebra'......"

"Huh?"

This is called a technical talent!

Gu Qing burst into tears.

This is simply a treasure sent from my hometown!

Tongzhou, the convoy of Honglu Temple.

Li Jun, who was riding a horse and following the convoy, saw the post station again, couldn't help but hold his forehead, and screamed in his heart.

How is it a post station again!

He didn't know what it was like for the teams of other yamen to go out on errands, but it was probably rare for them to enter every post station like them.

It's been almost ten days now, and if they were to hurry up, they would have arrived in Fenzhou a long time ago, but their group of people is still in Tongzhou, and there is still more than half of the way from Fenzhou.

The chief of the escort was Fan Zhubo of Honglu Temple, who was in charge of the materials in Honglu Temple, and his colleague Fan Siwei was his nephew. Maybe it's because Fan Siwei is a colleague with him, and Fan Zhubo has taken a lot of care of him along the way, which makes him very grateful.

But......

Can you just enter without closing the door!

I heard that Zuo Shaoqing is terrible! Will they be beaten if they go so late?

"Post officer, good wine and good food are delivered. This batch of things is the Honglu Temple sent to Fenzhou materials and honor guards, the road is hard, we have to rest for the night, feed the horses good beans, and arrange a room for us! ”

"But Shangguan, only officials of the fifth rank or above can live in our upper room, and only you can live in the upper room here......" The post official explained embarrassedly.

"Seeing this person who has no ......," Master Fan patted Li Jun on the shoulder. This is the heirloom of the second class of the current department, the nephew of Lord Li of the Duke of Xinguo, and a pedestrian of our Honglu Temple, do you think he can live in the house? ”

Li Jun was taken aback, although Master Fan took a lot of care of him along the way, he never said that he would let him live in the house, how did he get to Tongzhou, so strange?

He hurriedly waved his hand and said, "No, no, I'm just a seven-grade pedestrian, I'll live in a room with other interpreters, and I'll just ask for advice in the evening." Now that I want to go to Fenzhou, I can't even say a few words, I'm afraid that Lord Zuo Shaoqing will be reprimanded when he sees it. ”

After listening to Li Jun's words, the post officer quickly breathed a sigh of relief and handed him a grateful look. Li Jun smiled at him, his official position was humble, and he really couldn't shake off any official position.

"You, you, I want to take care of you, but you don't know what to do. Tongzhou is a key road here, the officials who come and go don't know how many Lu Dao, the room in the post station is limited after all, if you see Shangguan coming, shake the official authority, what staff master has to live in, then the Shangfang post official naturally does not dare to let us, but when you see your seven-grade sesame official, you have to obediently let it out and live in the hall. ”

Master Fan often walks outside, and naturally knows the things that bully the soft and fear the hard in this station. "There are people coming and going in the hall, and the discomfort of living is still a trivial matter, and it is called trouble when something is lost."

Li Jun didn't take this matter to heart, and thanked Master Fan with a smirk: "Master Fan has taken great care of me along the way, and the lower officials are grateful. However, the lower official is indeed a minor official, and if the upper official asks to give up the room, he will naturally give it to the upper official. If my uncle had been here, he would not have allowed me to occupy the house in his name. ”

"I heard that the Xinguo Mansion has been strict since the old Guogong, and when I saw it today, it was indeed the case." Master Fan sighed, "You're still too young, just ...... If someone really asks you to give up your room, don't go to the hall, come to my room, and it's better to lay on the floor in my room than to sleep in the hall. ”

"Master Fan is kind, and the lower official understands it. If other colleagues can sleep in the hall, why should the lower officials bother the master of the book? Anyway, it's just one night, just make a living. Li Jun was not pampered and brought up, and he thought it was not difficult to rest on the extra bed in the hall for a night.

What's more, it's not necessarily the situation that Lu Jianfan said, right?

"Huh? Jingzhong was ordered to inspect the imperial history of Tongzhou and returned to Beijing, but there were not enough rooms, so let us let go? Li Jun and the interpreter in the same room looked at the embarrassed Yicheng at the door and looked at each other in surprise.

In the evening, he still felt that he might not have encountered the situation that Master Fan said, but it was only two hours later, and his words came true.

Li Jun and the interpreter in the same room only had to make room for the supervision of the seventh grade. Although they are all seven-grade officials, there is still a lot of difference between the seventh-grade and the seventh-grade.

Li Jun and the interpreter cleaned up their rooms and chatted bitterly.

"Maybe we have to go to a tent in Fenzhou, so let's prepare in advance."

"Don't say it, maybe the tent isn't as good as the hall of the inn."

Li Jun was not qualified to go to Fenzhou to assist Zuo Shaoqing this time, but he was "characterized" because he knew that group of people. And this translator was the most proficient of all the translators, so he was also sent. One of the two brothers and sisters carried a cage on their backs, and the other carried a burden, and obediently ran to the "extra bed" in a corner of the hall and sat down.

"Good thing we washed up as soon as we came in. If I were to wash up in the hall, I wouldn't do it. This translator is about thirty years old, has a hearty personality, and can talk to Li Jun.

"Go to sleep, I'll have to get up early tomorrow morning." Li Jun fell asleep on the bed, "Can you not enter the post station, when will you get to Fen......zhou?"

"You don't know that Master Fan and Zuo Shaoqing have a holiday, so they are deliberately so slow." The translator whispered to him, "Zuo Shaoqing used to lose face in public with Master Fan, Zuo Shaoqing was born in the Qi family, and he was a well-known 'iron-faced Shaoqing', with a poisonous mouth, which offended many people. ”

"Huh? Qi's? What is Qi Shao, the champion of today's department? ”

"It's his uncle. Qi Zhuangyuan's father is the country's son of the priest, and his father has a younger brother, who is more than ten years behind him, so our Shaoqing is twenty-eight this year, only eight years older than Qi Zhuangyuan, everyone says that he is young and promising, I see......" The translator shook his head, "Capable is capable, but a Shaoqing is afraid that it will come to an end." ”

Li Jun listened to the gossip and showed a clear expression.

"I see, thank you Brother Wang for your doubts."

"Where, where, I've been in Honglu Temple for four or five years, if you don't understand anything, just come to me." The interpreter sat on his bed with a smile and told Li Jun a lot of gossip about Honglu Temple.

Translator Wang's chatter kept coming into Li Jun's ears, and Li Jun listened to Translator Wang's fragmented voice, and slowly fell asleep.

"What are you doing!"

A loud shout frightened Li Jun to his senses, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a military general in ochre red clothes jumping down from the railing on the second floor, jumping directly to the first floor, and grabbing the arm of a post officer.

Li Jun looked at what happened three steps away from him in a daze, and then rubbed his eyes and looked out the window. It was still dark outside the window, and it was obviously not yet dawn.

Which one are these two playing?

"Two ......," Li Jun said in a hoarse voice.

"Take it out!" The military attache twisted the post officer's arm, "You are just a nine-grade official, you dare to steal the things of the official!" ”

"I didn't!"

"I saw you rummage through this official's cage and take out a bag of silver!

"Huh?" Li Jun pointed at himself, "A bag of silver? I don't have a bag of silver. ”

The post officer listened to Li Jun's words and immediately struggled, "Did you hear it!" He didn't bring any money! You're wronging people! ”

The military attache turned his head angrily and glared at Li Jun. "Why don't you little official know the hearts of good people! I saw him sneak out of your cage and dig out a bag of things! What else can you do in a money bag if you don't have silver! ”

"But my money is all close to me, and I don't put any silver in the cage. Have you wronged this post officer? Li Jun finally came to his senses now, frowning and looking at the military general in ochre.

This military general is not very old, has no beard, and is obviously less than thirty years old. He is tall and tall, half a head taller than himself, with ape arms and waist, strong muscles, and should be a person who has been practicing martial arts for a long time.

"You...... I've never seen such a foolish person! The ochre-clad boy kicked the officer down with a knee, reached out and searched his sleeve for a long time, and pulled out a royal blue money bag.

This money bag is the size of two adult fists, and this post official is also talented, so he actually put the money bag on □□ and hung it, and he really didn't find it for a while. If it weren't for the young general's accidental discovery that his □□ was too hard, he wouldn't have been able to find the money bag.

"This money bag looks so familiar," Li Jun thought for a while......

"Look, it's not your money!" The ochre-clad young man gave the money to Li Jun.

"It's my money! My money! The postman called. When he saw Li Jun's expression, he knew that the money must not have been put by himself, and of course he had to insist that it was his own money at this time.

Stealing an official's silver taels, not only will you lose your position, but you will also have to do hard labor for three years with a rod!

The ochre-clad boy was also grumpy and struck him in the chest.

"Your money? The material of this money bag is tribute satin, you are old, you can use this kind of material! ”

Li Jun took the money bag and looked at it, and finally remembered where he saw it.

Isn't that the bag of money that his grandmother asked him to bring at the time! In the past few days, he only moved the upper layer of the cage to get some washing and changing clothes, and he didn't even notice when his grandmother had stuffed the money into his salute.

"It's my family's money, and it's my cousin's grandmother who was afraid that I would encounter an emergency on the road, probably because I didn't accept it, so she secretly put it in my cage and didn't tell me." Li Jun guessed the ins and outs as soon as he thought about it, and hurriedly arched his hand at the ochre-clothed general, "Xiaguan Li Jun, a pedestrian from Honglu Temple, thank you Shangguan for your help." ”

"It's easy to say, I'm Huaiyuan Lang General Zhao Xing. Let's see if there's anything missing. ”

Li Jun carefully checked in the cage, but there was no shortage of things, but he took out a bag of silver.

Seeing the stacks of neat silver ingots, Li Jun's throat choked.

How can he make the old and young in the family so concerned.

The author has something to say: Little Theater:

Everyone's mantra

Li Jun: Ah, I said the wrong thing again?

Li Rui: Little ponyf!

Li Ming: Grandma is eccentric!

Li Mao: The emperor cheated me!

Gu Qing: Ouch, what is this?

Mama Hua: Mrs. Tai doesn't know anything......

Zhang Xuan: Heavenly Monarch......